Digital Photography 101: Beginners Digital Photography
If you are considering buying a digital camera, but are confused as to where to start, read on for some basic beginner’s tips to get you up and running.
Picking Your First Digital Camera
Of course the most important tool here is the camera, so this is the first purchase you will need to make before you get started. The quality of a digital camera is mainly defined by four features: resolution, lens aperture, lens zoom range, lens quality and software.
Lens zoom range concerns how you will be able to zoom in on your subject and how close you need to be in order to do that. Zoom lenses come with a variable focal length and that determines the lens magnification. Generally, the average digital camera comes with a 3x zoom which is more than adequate to zoom in on your subject without causing the photo to become blurry.
Lens zoom range is next. This refers to the amount of distance you will have to maintain between you and your subject when taking the picture and how far in your lens will zoom at that length. Most digital cameras come with a 3x zoom and that will allow you to come in really close on your subject without getting a blurry result. You will be able to stand at a distance, and the lens will zoom in so that it looks like you’re standing up close.
Getting Started
After you have purchased your camera, you’ll be able to immediately start having some fun. Ideally, you will want to play around and get used to the features that your camera has, take some family shots, shots of pets, objects around the house and things like flowers, plants and trees. In that way, you will become familiar with the settings and the different conditions that your camera can handle.
Transferring Your Pictures for Display
Once you’ve taken a fair amount of photos, you’re going to want to transfer them either for printing or display. With a regular camera, you could expect about one in twenty-four shots to be good. When you sent your film to the shop, or started developing it yourself, you’d have to remind yourself not to be disappointed that what you saw in your head didn’t transfer to the shot.
With the introduction of digital photography, all of that changed. Because photography is now digital, and results are shown immediately on screen, it gives any photography the opportunity to have total control over what shots are saved and which ones are ditched. Essentially, when you take a shot, if you don’t like it, you can just delete it and move on.
Periodically you’ll want to download all your pictures onto your computer. This means that digital photography often results in a bigger collection of photos than you would have otherwise. You can file them all on your computer and then print off the ones you like on your own printer. Or you can take your memory card to a store that offers photo printing services and have your prints made there.
Photo retouching software will help you touch up your images prior to printing like shading, increasing crispness of the image and getting rid of the dreaded red-eye which is the bane of every photographer.
Some people still like to print out their photos while others like to keep the photos on their computers available for viewing as a slide show or as a screen saver. You can also share your photos with friends and family through email or online photo sharing services.
In short, digital photography is a very versatile and exciting way of taking photos. Once you start you certainly won’t want to stop!
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